Tag Archives: verses from the bible

This Labor Day Weekend we went to visit St. Augustine, Florida. If you haven’t been there, St. Augustine is a great place to stay if you are interested in pirates, ghosts, art, culture and history. It is one of the oldest cities in Florida and practically guarantees you a fun time.

We were walking down St. George Street, which is very narrow and closed to vehicles. A variety of shops line both sides of the street and it is filled with people of all races, sexes and ages. A great many were eating ice cream in a vain attempt to shield themselves from the heat. Most of the children had chocolate ice cream smeared around their mouths and hands. Just one glimpse of the sun made the cream melt away faster than the small tongues could lap it up.

Near an intersection there were a group of men handing out cards. Off to the side I could hear one, “don’t spend the rest of time in enteral hell. God forgives, don’t live in sin.” He ranted on as I groaned, automatically tuning him out.

The first guy went to hand me a card and I simply said, “No, thanks.”

The fellow on the other side of the intersection was pushing his cards on people. “Come to church and be saved. God forgives.” He pressed the card into my hand.

Normally I would just carry on, but this time I stopped. “Why should I join you congregation?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“To be one with the Lord Jesus Christ, He will forgive you of your sins.”

I handed him the card back, the other guy was still hollering about hell. “I can’t see why anyone would want to join your Church if everything you say is so negative. I believe in Jesus too, but to me He is a positive being, full of life and energy. He is a light of love and compassion, he emits peace and joy.”

The guy looked at me and blinked like a startled owl. “The Bible says-”

“Stop!” I held up my hand. “Please don’t quote me verses from the bible. I’m not interested, in joining your congregation.” I handed him the card back.

“The Lord will save you when God strikes the earth with his anger! He will strike us for allowing homosexuals to defy the sanctions of marriage, just as he made Hurricane Isaac submerge New Orleans in water to rid them of the evil way they choose to live.”

I was ready to walk away until he mentioned the word ‘homosexual’. I stopped in my tracks and looked at this poor man who really believed what he was saying. How could a religion become so corrupt in evil and spew such misinformation. How could any religious group continue to spread hate? For a group that claims to be such good people, they teach an awful lot of hate and discrimination.

I looked the man in the eye. “For your information, sexual orientation is decided in the womb. Nobody has a choice in who they love. That is a scientific fact. And since God created all life, then He created homosexuals as well! All you are doing is mocking him by teaching people to hate what he created.” Without realizing it the volume of my voice got louder and louder. The poor man was backing away from me as if I were the devil.

“Instead of quoting from the bible, why don’t you put as much time into learning as you do in hurting people? You people are great at twisting things around and ignoring the facts. I really pity you people, how unhappy the lot of you are. All through the centuries you find evil in everything and spread lies about innocent people. You kill in the name of God because you believe people are witches, then you banish people that are left-handed, then point fingers at people that are black, then at interracial couples, and at gays. What you all need to do is get a life and leave the rest of us alone!”

I turned and walked away. “I will pray for the Lord to save your soul!” He cried.

“And I will pray that God will show mercy for all of you who mock his teachings.” I walked away, seething. I tire of the pure stupidity of religious thinking. I know religion is important for many people, but I have no tolerance for teaching people to hate. I have no patients for the lies and bigotry.

Can’t they just accept scientific fact and admit they were wrong? Why does religion have to be so negative? And why do they always try to put fear into people? If you do this you will go to hell. If you do that you will go to hell. This is sin and that is sin.

Jesus! By the time they’re done you can’t do anything except breathe and pray! Didn’t God put us here to learn and grow spiritually?